A Walk in the Rain

Kalispell, Montana -- Woodland Park, June 9, 2012 -- Started out a raining/sleet pelting day. Ended up beautiful, wet, and memorable. Hope you enjoy these pictures. I find this place enchanting. A place of love. The tile gazebo is something new to me. One of the tiles had 2003 on it. I moved from the area in 1994. Glad to see it only gets better every visit.

Rural Montana Photos

I found these photos to be beautiful when thumbing through a mini-magazine we get from our telephone or electric cooperative here in Montana. Thought I would share them with you to enjoy.

This one is titled "Little Drummer Bird" taken by Merle Ann Loman of Victor, MT. Meriwether Lewis called this bird, "the small brown pheasant," noting it was "booted" or feathered to the foot, Merle reports. If you're in the woods and hear a drumming sound, that will be this guy.

This photo is titled "Bird on Fire" Nikki Kirk of Kalispell, MT got first place with this dramatic image. I love the colors.

This one is titled "Bird on Ice" taken by Lana Smith of Broadus, MT. This is a ringneck pheasant proudly dancing across the ice on his toes. Pheasants are everywhere in the area of Fort Benton, MT (where I currently live) and can be seen along the sides of the roads about as much as mule deer. I love seeing and listening to Montana wildlife. Hope you enjoyed these photos.

Ever Heard of a Javelina

Well, I just learned something with my Avery's homeschool work today. He was doing some worksheets in grammar dealing with possessive pronouns and had some sentences about a coyote and a javelina. The sentences were written much like the story of "The Three Little Pigs". After we finished the written work, I told him to come to the computer and look up a javelina. Don't know if you have ever heard or seen one but here is what we found: Though some people think javelina are a type of wild pig, they are actually members of the peccary family, a group of hoofed mammals originating from South America. Javelina are common in much of central and southern Arizona, including the outskirts of the Phoenix area, most of Tucson, and occasionally as far north as Flagstaff. Javelina form herds of two to more than 20 animals and rely on each other to defend territory, protect against predators, regulate temperature and interact socially. They use washes and areas with dense vegetation as travel corridors. Javelina are most active at night, but they may be active during the day when it is cold.

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks

We took a trip recently to the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks for my husband and son to acquire their fishing licenses. This was our second trip since moving last year but my pictures did not turn out the first time.



It is very impressive inside and kept the kids attention looking at all the animals on display, an exhibit of the kinds of imprint tracks of the animals, maps, and other glass case displays.



We walked out with several informative handouts of outdoor information -- the guys are planning on checking out some spots for fishing soon. They have made some progress in the sport as two fishing rods have been acquired and the local bait shop has been visited.